audience

My design will feature two parts of text. A statement, “Don’t let smoking define you” and a call to action. I’d like the statement to be bold, yet neutral, following research conducted on previous national health designs analysed in my research phase.

I looked at a series of different typefaces, thinking about the impact it would have on the intended audience, whilst also looking at the aesthetics of the typeface in conjunction with the tone of voice of my design.

Gill Sans – Although I think this typeface works, I feel the effectiveness could be enhanced by a different choice.

Black Letter – An attempt to give a sinister feel to the design. However, the readability of the typeface is lost, and doesn’t fit with the modernity of the design.

Final Choice – Gotham – I love how this fits in to the design. It’s neutrality was exactly what I was looking for, and looks very similar to other NHS posters already in existence.

I chose the tagline “Don’t let smoking define you” as my theme for my APP design. It allows the audience to understand that the habitual nature of smoking takes over your life, and defines you as a person through its negative attributes such as smell and taste.

I recently watched a youtube video for pleasure, where they used the find edge tool in photoshop to create a smoke-like effect. I was really keen to try this myself, so using an image taken of a skull, I did so.

I wanted to give the impression that the skull character had been defined, and my idea was to use a brush stroke effect, as if someone had consciously made this character from smoking.

Using another effect in photoshop, I created the brush stroke effect as seen below.

I looked back at some of the previous projects to draw inspiration from for the APP module. One that struck a cord was a digital paint-over technique I learnt when working at Lightmaker on work experience during the summer. Adam, the creative director, spent time showing me how to quickly transform images to sell an idea. It’s always important to bare in mind time constraints of a project, and none more so than this APP module. Since we’ve had the brief, I’ve been worried that working on my dissertation will take up the majority of my time, whilst also balancing my freelance work and starting a new job soon! This method allows me to quickly alter an image to produce a counter argument to smoking.

Below are before and after images of a 3D character. The brief was open to my interpretation, allowing me to take the character in any direction I fancied.

Conclusions

I’ve found this retrospectively incredibly useful for the basis of my APP project. It’s allowed me to recap on some really vital fundamentals of photoshop. It’s also made me to be conscious of time constraints, and also thinking about texture to lift my design from a flat 2D image. I wish to implement this in my own design, using symbols of death to evoke negative feelings to my intended audience.

I re-capped on how to set up an A-Master page by watching an online tutorial. This will allow me to keep continuity on each page, whilst also working quickly and efficiently.

They also help the reader navigate, by displaying direction such as a menu bar, page number, or book title.

I used a simple design, automating the page numbers as I progress into the book, whilst also adding a reminder of the book title placed in the center of each page. I created margins and columns to give structure to my pages, however, some pages may change, and I will adjust the layout and grid accordingly.

I also used a baseline grid, adjusting the grid to the leading value of my text, and then snapping the text to it.This will further enhance the structure of my design

I’ve learnt from previous experience it’s good to start with a good structure, as this gives the foundation in which to layout text and images effectively. I want the reader to feel engaged, whilst also feeling comfortable and enjoy reading the book.

One effect I’ve always been fascinated with is disintegration of an isolated subject. My title for my book is “Food For Thought” and I feel this gives me scope to use my creativity on the front cover of the book. The idea I want to get across to my audience is thinking about the food we eat. I feel the disintegration effects signifies the digestion process of the food, whilst also being dynamic as a piece of art.

I selected an image of a strawberry, attempting to symbolise healthy eating.

I created a new layer, and made a selection around the whole strawberry, without the shadow. I saved the path but kept the selection, and cut the strawberry onto a new layer. I filled the selection with white. Using the paint brush tool I then painted everything other than the shadow pure white, then selected the image, copied it, and pasted it onto an alpha channel. I created a fresh new layer and loaded the selection, and finally filled it white black.

I created a new layer with the cut strawberry, and used the used the liquify tool to stretch the colours out, giving me space to create the disintegration effect. I created a layer mask, filling it with black to hide it for the moment..

On another cut strawberry layer, I started to use scatter brushes to “chop” into the strawberry, which will allow space for the effect to show.

On the liquified layer, I used more scatter brushes to reveal more of the layer mask.

My target audience is students, which actually is quite useful as I have a lot of knowledge of the market as I am one myself. However I also intend to get opinions from my fellow students, which will be the basis of my research and content of my book.

What do Students Enjoy

Drinking

Partying

Bright engaging colours

Large Images

A sense of achievement

I also listed 100 words that might be associated with students. This will allow me to generate ideas and dismiss less relevant words. To engage my reader I intend to add small signifiers they can relate to as students.

I decided to pick a character from a cartoon for the shape to fit/warp my text into. The first cartoon that came to mind was The Simpsons, which featured prominently in my house growing up. Not only that, but the characters are made up of very easy geometric shapes that aren’t difficult to get correct, and also meaning the text would be easy to display as there wont be loads of detailed and textured elements. The obvious choice for me was Homer Simpson, who in my eyes, was the best and funniest character. I also was able to find loads of great quotes online for this particular character, and the shapes that make his body would hold the text well.

My Target Demographic

I watched The Simpsons from a very early age and it was a big part of my childhood. Although The Simpsons used to be a children’s cartoon, I think it has grown bigger than that, and more adults are enjoying the show. In terms of my design, I think this should be reflected in the choice of typeface I choose, making sure I appeal to a wide demographic. To achieve this, I looked at the typefaces used within The Simpsons, such as the logo, “duff beer”

I started by listing all the quotes, catchphrases, names, places, and characters I could think of.

I then went onto producing a thumbnail of ideas for the typography and layout of the type, explaining why they may or may not work well, and why I may choose different typefaces for different areas of the body.

I feel this process has given me a great platform in which to experiment in illustrator. I now have a great understanding which typefaces I want to target in the design and where, though I am aware that these choices may change in the digital design process. I hope to use the warp with mesh function to achieve the shape of homer, and hopefully will stimulate the Simpson lovers out there in the design community!